Democratic Republic of Congo coach Florent Ibenge calls for focus

Florent Ibenge will not dwell on Democratic Republic of Congo's recent win over Ivory Coast ahead of their Africa Cup of Nations clash.

Democratic Republic of Congo coach Florent Ibenge called on his players to forget past results and focus on Wednesday's Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) semi-final against Ivory Coast.

DR Congo advanced to the final four of the tournament after producing a second-half onslaught to beat Congo 4-2 in Bata on Saturday.

That win set-up a semi-final showdown with Ivory Coast, whom they defeated 4-3 in AFCON qualifying last October.

Although Ibenge was happy with the victory back then in Abidjan, he knows Ivory Coast are a much improved team.
"We'll forget the game played during the qualifications, if we think about this game, we'll stay in a kind of stupid euphoria and these two games are not the same," said Ibenge.

"Ivory Coast changed, the team evolved a bit since then, it's not the same defence anymore, especially the two centre-backs, young players were there.

"Even though Serge Aurier and Siaka Tiene were there, Kolo Toure wasn't, and now they have Serey Die in the midfield, helping a lot.

"So we have forgotten this game, it will be a different game, it's Ivory Coast, a new opponent to play, we can't think about the game in Abidjan, because in a way it irritates me.

"We conceded three goals and as a coach, I did not like it too much, even though it was good for the show and the fans and the story.

"But when you need to score four goals to win away, it's a bad thing. But I think we improved as well since this game and tomorrow it will be another story."